The invention relates to retrieving a conversation or part of the conversation from a database to a terminal. The database contains one or more groups of messages having a first identifier. Each group of messages comprises messages of a conversation. Each message in the group may also have a second identifier. To retrieve the message a group of messages is selected from the database. Then, a message from the selected group of messages is selected and a request is formed. The request is included with the first identifier indicating the selected group of messages. It is also possible that the second identifier indicating the selected message in the selected group of messages is also included in the request. The request is transmitted to a network element controlling the database. The selected message is searched from the database on the basis of the first and the second identifier. If the selected message is found, it is transmitted from the database to the terminal.